From a glorious website/blog called THE MIDDLE WAY, comes a refreshing list of ways we can become more mindful in our daily lives.

8 Ways to Develop Mindfulness

Enjoy!

Happy Easter to all!

Please enjoy this gorgeous sermon by Unitarian Gary Cagle which explains in lovely simplicity the twin philosophies of “reincarnationist” Buddha, and Jesus Christ – a man who himself was “reincarnated” and whose rebirth is celebrated by Christianity’s Easter Sunday.

“The Zen Wisdom of Jesus and Buddha”

Since the age of twenty-one, I have been attracted to the philosophies and faiths of Asia, especially Buddhism. Which is pretty strange considering I grew up on a small farm in Georgia, was saved at 13 and baptized in the Baptist Church. Of course Jesus was my role model. Then came the turmoil of the 60s. By 20 I no longer thought Jesus was God. By 1968 after the assassinations of ML King and Robert Kennedy I was in dispair and didn’t believe in anything, especially the “God” that Baptists taught. But soon I found answers–in what may seem far from my childhood faith –in Zen Buddhism. And I woke up one morning to realize that I was connected in total oneness to a Timeless and Infinite Universe. Now I don’t deny Jesus’ divinity. I don’t deny anyone’s divinity. Jesus is a wonderful model of what humans can be. And so is Buddha. I was raised on Jesus. I had to search for Buddha. And what I found was they were two masters with one message. I believe the teachings of Buddha and Jesus offer a way to end human suffering. But I believe Jesus and Buddha were trying to heal human pain in this life, not just the next life. Jesus’ remedy was called the Kingdom of Heaven and Buddha’s tonic was called Nirvana. Of course we Unitarian Universalists are not much interested in getting people into heaven, but we are interested in getting heaven into people. I think that is the message of Jesus and Buddha. Both Jesus and Buddha taught the inner person is more important than outer image or ritual. Both proclaimed that love and compassion for others were the highest ideals. And not just to love your friends. That what every society expects. Good Zen masters have to think outside the box.

Jesus said. “You have heard it said, love your neighbor. But I tell you, love your enemies, be good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who hurt you.” “Love one another as I have loved you.”

Buddha said, ”See yourself in others, who then can you hurt.” “Hate never overcomes hate. Only love overcomes hate. Cultivate boundless love toward all beings.”

Click here for the full sermon.

The 7 Habits Of Highly Spiritual People

by Perry Garfinkel, journalist, author, speaker and writing instructor:

In truth, that headline is misleading. This list is merely a starter set, not the be-all and end-all assuring spiritual bliss. (And what’s so mystical about the number 7 anyway, other than that it appears to boost book sales?) As the unofficial and self-declared Stephen Covey of spirituality, I add this encouraging caveat: just like bad habits you can’t break, the same can be said of good habits. Try some of these, reap the rewards — those would be love for and from others, love for

yourself, love in general — and they will become addictive, giving rise to many other random acts of spiritual goodness that will take over your life. Happy holy days.

#1

Highly Spiritual People Give Rather Than Take.

To give is indeed divine. Some research on altruism suggests people commit selfless deeds precisely because such acts make them feel good, therefore refuting the notion of selflessness. Hogwash. Is breathing selfish? If we didn’t give, and give generously, we’d die. I really believe that. Giving is human nature; it’s just that we forget our own Spirit-Nature sometimes. Giving can take many forms; simply paying attention to someone is a gift.

Click here to read the rest of this article from The Huffington Post…

New life. There is nothing more precious to remind us that we are presently enjoying the grand cycle of existence…

From the New York Times -

“The artist’s portrait of his son, from birth to the age of four. Music composed by Sam Bisbee. Part of Sightlines, an Op-Ed visual series.”

Here are some folks I’d like to know – they call themselves THE ELATIONISTS… San Francisco’s Lost Arts Movement.

‘Centennial Celebration of the Elationists’

Reyhan Harmanci – The SF Chronicle

Meet the Elationists. According to their “discoverers,” they were a turn-of-the-century art movement in San Francisco that made art and music from what they could unearth from the rubble of the 1906 earthquake. Their own history has been buried for years, the archivists say, hidden inside a secret room of an old Victorian belonging to Bonnie Spindler. Among the photographs, films and paintings found, the Elationist archivists have unearthed a large music instrument called the Triclops Monstrosity, which has incorporated three string instruments into a large mass with a gold-colored lion’s head in the middle. And then there’s the special Elationist chocolate drink recipe (pieced together from journal entries) that will be served at the opening of a show about them…

Click here for the rest.

A BRIEF FOR THE DEFENSE

by Jack Gilbert

Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies

are not starving someplace, they are starving

somewhere else. With flies in their nostrils.

But we enjoy our lives because that’s what God wants.

Otherwise the mornings before summer dawn would not

be made so fine. The Bengal tiger would not

be fashioned so miraculously well. The poor women

at the fountain are laughing together between

the suffering they have known and the awfulness

in their future, smiling and laughing while somebody

in the village is very sick. There is laughter

every day in the terrible streets of Calcutta,

and the women laugh in the cages of Bombay.

If we deny our happiness, resist our satisfaction,

we lessen the importance of their deprivation.

We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure,

but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have

the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless

furnace of this world. To make injustice the only

measure of our attention is to praise the Devil.

If the locomotive of the Lord runs us down,

we should give thanks that the end had magnitude.

We must admit there will be music despite everything.

We stand at the prow again of a small ship

anchored late at night in the tiny port

looking over to the sleeping island: the waterfront

is three shuttered cafés and one naked light burning.

To hear the faint sound of oars in the silence as a rowboat

comes slowly out and then goes back is truly worth

all the years of sorrow that are to come.

-Jack Gilbert

(I’ve posted this poem because I feel that it does a very fine job of addressing the concept that even though life is dirty and tough, that it is our duty as beings to embrace beauty despite it all…for what is the meaning of beauty without its opposite? How will there be rebirth if there is no death?)